FIG. 56. 



j82 Fruit-growing on Railway Embankments. 



ing small trees. It would be a great point gained if we could have 

 dwarf productive trees without having to go to expense for fixing 

 or training them if we could make them self-supporting, in fact. 



A well-known French fruit-grower strongly recommends a self- 

 supporting mode of training, of which Fig. 56 is an illustration. I 



have seen examples of it looking 

 quite as well as pears trained on 

 well-made trellises. M. Baltet 

 says, " It is quite possible and very 

 advantageous to establish neat 

 hedges of pear trees, more or less re- 

 gularly trained. By planting them 

 rather close together a quick result 

 is obtained. At first it would be 

 desirable to train the trees, as 



shown in the cut, so as to secure a dwarf spreading tendency and 

 equal distribution of sap along the line, but after a time they might 

 be allowed to grow like any common hedge, and even clipped with 

 a shears. They should be planted at about four feet apart. The 

 branches should be tied together with loose matting. If correctly 

 and constantly pruned like espalier trees this arrangement will 

 prove an ornament to any garden, while in its rougher development 

 it may be employed on railway banks as a sort of fence or dividing 

 line. It resists the strongest winds." 



The trees that I saw trained after this fashion were not, however, 

 allowed to get into a rough hedge-like condition, but, on the con- 

 trary, trained as neatly and perfectly as ever trees were on trellis or 

 wall. No flaying of the branches resulted from their being slightly 

 interlaced. A shoot was taken along the top so as to act as a finish 

 and tend to hold all tighter, and the whole looked much firmer and 

 neater than the ill-supported and ill-trained espaliers that one too 

 often sees at home. However, the neat and simply-constructed 

 trellises elsewhere described will be much better than this plan for 

 garden use. The rough modification of it might be used for making 

 the hedges before described ; but, on the whole, it seems to me 



